The foreign ministers of India, China and Russia are meeting in the Indian capital, Delhi, to discuss terrorism, drug trafficking and Afghanistan. They are also assessing developments in Iran, Iraq and North Korea. The relationship between the three countries was first proposed by former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov during a visit to Delhi in 1998. The Indian and Chinese foreign ministers on Tuesday agreed on better air links and visa restrictions. "As Russia's relations .. with China grew deeper, India-China relations .. normalised [and] Beijing and New Delhi manifested mounting interest in contacts with Russia in tripartite format on a wide range of matters of mutual interest..," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin was quoted saying by the Itar-Tass news agency ahead of the meeting. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

The Iraqi government on Tuesday ordered tens of thousands of Baghdad residents to leave homes they are occupying illegally, in a surprising and highly challenging effort to reverse the tide of sectarian cleansing that has left the capital bloodied and Balkanized.In a televised speech, Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, who is leading the new crackdown, also announced the closing of Iraq’s borders with Iran and Syria, an extension of the curfew in Baghdad by an hour, and the setup of new checkpoints run by the Defense and Interior Ministries, both of which General Qanbar said he now controlled.He said the government would break into homes and cars it deemed dangerous, open mail and eavesdrop on phone calls....http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt2_14_7.htm

More than anything else he has done in his second term, George W. Bush’s embrace of a fuel-for-nukes accord with North Korea shows that he is adjusting to the harsh realities of diplomacy—and straying ever further from the ideology of regime change. The proof: the president has cut a deal that is likely to help a member of his notorious “Axis of Evil,” Kim Jong Il, stay in power longer, even while it may make the world safer. The agreement announced today represents a major change in attitude that goes beyond North Korea. The most evident sign is that the accord, under which Pyongyang will immediately get 50 tons of emergency fuel oil with nearly a million more tons to come, is plainly a reversal of the administration’s previous principled stand against the “nuclear blackmail” that it accused Bill Clinton of engaging in. Until this week the administration refused to reward “bad behavior”—secret weapons programs—by promising dictators like Kim goodies in return for giving up nukes. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17136874/site/newsweek/

The deal reached in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear program is being criticized for making too many concessions to the hard-line government that violated a past accord, and gives up key U.S. leverage that blocked illicit financial activities by Pyongyang in the past. "It is rewarding bad behavior of the North Koreans by promising fuel oil," said former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, who emerged as an outspoken critic of the nuclear accord. "It's a bad signal to North Korea and it's a bad signal to Iran," Mr. Bolton said in an interview, noting that the message to would-be arms proliferators around the world is that "if you hold out long enough and wear down the State Department negotiators, eventually you get rewarded." Also, giving up financial leverage on North Korea after further talks by agreeing to lift banking sanctions is a "huge" mistake, Mr. Bolton said. "...http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070214-120013-3871r.htm

The National Football League refused to run a recruitment ad for the U.S. Border Patrol in last week's Super Bowl program, saying it was "controversial" because it mentioned duties such as fighting terrorism and stopping drugs and illegal aliens at the border. "The ad that the department submitted was specific to Border Patrol, and it mentioned terrorism. We were not comfortable with that," said Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the NFL. "The borders, the immigration debate is a very controversial issue, and we were sensitive to any perception we were injecting ourselves into that." The NFL's rejection didn't sit well with Border Patrol agents, who called it a snub of their role in homeland security and said it was "more than a little puzzling." "The NFL missed a golden opportunity to reach countless patriotic citizens who want to answer the call to help prevent another terrorist attack on American soil," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the ...http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070213-115739-3816r.htm

While the world focuses on Baghdad's security, a series of bombings here may be the long-feared start of a second deadly war in Iraq — this one between Kurds and Arabs, both with claims on a territory atop one of the world's largest oil reserves. If the escalating violence in Kirkuk erupts into all-out fighting between heavily armed Kurdish and Arab groups, it could spark a wider conflict involving Turkey or Iran. That risk puts the United States in a bind, caught between ally Turkey, which is on the side of Arabs and ethnic Turkomen here, and the Kurds, another strong U.S. ally. The issue is coming to a head because of a provision in the Iraqi constitution that calls for a referendum by year's end on Kirkuk's future. Arabs and Turkomen, backed by Turkey, want to put the vote off — worried about Kurdish dominance and more violence if the referendum is held and Kurds win. But Kurds are determined to press ahead. They deny it's because of the black gold in the ground. ...http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070213/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_another_war_1